Midweek Review

The need for a holistic approach and restructuring of system

Published

4 years ago

2022/03/2

Dr. Amarasekara receiving his D. Lit

Speech delivered by Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara after receiving his D. Lit from the University of Peradeniya, last week.

Let me first thank you for bestowing this honour on me, which I accept with gratitude and humility. I am grateful to the Dental Faculty for sponsoring it.

On this occasion in spite of my penchant for ideological and philosophical wrangling, I thought of speaking on something more down to earth, something which is relevant to the problems we as educationists and university lecturers are facing at the moment. Hence the topic, ‘The need for a Holistic Approach and a Restructuring of the System’. My observations are mainly to stimulate your thinking, and make you think outside the box. And, if you find them worthy of consideration it is left to you, who are more knowledgeable, to use them to formulate the envisaged model that is needed.

At the moment, I see a concerted effort by the education authorities to incorporate a knowledge of the basic sciences as well as the latest technical knowledge, technical skills and Information Technology to the universities, especially to the field of Humanities.

To put it in other words, it is an attempt to get a student following the Arts/Humanities to pursue a course in Biology or Mathematics, and a student following a course in Science to follow a course in History or Literature, and both groups to imbibe the latest technical knowledge offered by the Technological Revolution that has come into being.

Whether this is being proposed with a holistic perspective in mind to produce an enlightened graduate who could contribute to the intellectual, cultural life of the society, or to produce an employable graduate in demand is not clear at the moment.

It is most likely prompted by a desire to produce an employable graduate who will not turn out to be a rebel, an anarchist, or a threat and also, to prevent those insurgencies of the past that were centered round the universities. It is natural that the Arts graduate who faces a blank future with no hope in sight should resort to violence to vent his frustration and agony. We are lucky that so far this frustration is being channeled into the streets and not to violence against the establishment.

Even if the restructuring is prompted by a self -centered impulse it must be welcome.

This reminds me of a personal experience I underwent some time ago. It was in 1987 during the JVP insurrection. I was abroad at the time and very keen to know what was happening in the country. With my eyes glued to the television to see what was happening especially in the universities I could see the terrible mayhem, the terrible tragedy, the torture that was inflicted on the youth especially at Peradeniya. The picture of those decapitated heads lined up round that pond made me utterly sick, filling me with a deep sense of guilt.

When I came back, I was interviewed by a Week-end Sinhala weekly and was asked what remedial measures I could suggest to prevent such a tragedy happening in the universities. My response was an irrational and emotional outburst. ’There is no need to continue with these universities any longer. They have provided a breeding ground for those youth to be turned into rebels and insurgents. All these universities must be closed down, we must go back to the situation that was there prior to the establishment of these universities. We must have a Medical College to provide the number of doctors needed for the country, we should have an Engineering school to provide the necessary number of engineers, we must resurrect the Technical Colleges to provide the technicians necessary for the country. It is an unaffordable luxury to have residential universities to produce unemployable Arts graduates. If there is a need to teach Humanities, we could have a number of Open Universities to cater for that need.’

Mine was no doubt an irrational and emotional outburst. But I think it contained a kernel of truth; the restructuring programme that the State has initiated today is there in that kernel.

I think if this restructuring is to be a success it must start from the school level and not from the University level. The universities should carry on the restructuring process initiated at school level.

At the moment we have two major streams after O levels – an Arts stream and a Science stream. Those who follow the Science stream study subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology and none of the Arts subjects they studied at O levels. The same happens with those who follow the Arts stream; none of the subjects they had studied as Mathematics, and Environmental studies are followed by the Arts stream. There is a complete separation; this separation and compartmentalisation should cease, there should be only one stream at the Advanced levels. The Science stream student offering Science subjects for Advanced Levels should offer an Arts subject such as History or Literature. The same applies to the Arts student, while offering Arts subjects he/she must offer a subject like Mathematics or Biology.

This trend should be continued at the University level. At the same time the technological knowledge and skills introduced at the University level should be considered as Applied Science, and not as something unrelated to science which they had learnt. If we want to impart technical knowledge unrelated to science, we need no universities to perform that function, we could have Technical Schools such as the German Technical School. (We could consider our own Technical Colleges as against the German Technical School).

The demand for incorporating Technology into the University curriculum is being adhered to by the universities of the West at the moment. They seem to have realised the inadequacy of the classical model to cater to the present- day needs. The Fourth Industrial Revolution- the Technological Revolution seems to have awakened them. However, this has brought about a controversy about the place that Technology should occupy in the University Curriculum.

Professor Aaron Garre in his remarkable work, Post Modernism and Environment addresses his mind to the dilemma faced by the universities. This is what he has to say. “Associated with these developments universities are fundamentally transformed , thoroughly corrupted by the publish or perish syndrome, and by the pressure to lower standards to accommodate the higher proportion of young people going on to higher education, they are being reduced to extensions of High Schools and Technical Colleges, valued by governments only in so far as they provide people with vocational training or produce technological knowledge, and by students only to increase their earning power. Arts and Science Faculties have lost status within universities with good reason”.

Let this not happen to our universities.

The emphasis on technology and technological skills, IT, etc., at the expense of scientific knowledge is bound to generate a warped idea regarding science. It may make the youth consider science not as a source of knowledge, a way of understanding the world, an indispensable way of thinking but as a means to an end, the end being to create a world dominated by gadgetry which will relieve the youth from thinking and creativity and make life more comfortable and make more money as suggested by Prof. Garre.

Such a concept could be detrimental to a ‘Third World’ country like ours, which has not experienced the Industrial Revolutions and the expansion of scientific knowledge of the West. This may reinforce the idea of science as ‘pattapal boru’ in the minds of our youth.

I believe, this idea of a holistic approach devoid of compartmentalisation of knowledge is not something new to us. In the Pirivena universities we had, they maintained this holistic approach.

There is a mistaken belief amongst us that these Pirivenas were religious centres, and their main function was to propagate Buddhism. Far from it; they were centres of learning and also intellectual and cultural centers, and the Heads of these were advisers to the rulers and also representatives of the people. I am sure you are aware of the triangular relationship that existed among the king, the Sangha and the people-the Asokan model of governance we inherited with Buddhism.

One of the foremost Pirivenas was the Vijayaba Pirivena of the 15th century headed by the great Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula .

This was pointed out to an international community of scholars by Arunachalam Ponnambalam when he addressed that gathering at the Calcutta university in 1916.This was the observation he made at that conference. “Long before the emergence of universities in the Western world in the 18th century we had in our country, in the 15th century, a great seat of learning, a university of international fame at Thotagamuwa headed by poet Sri Rahula”.

An examination of the curriculum followed at the Vijayaba Pirivena shows how it resembles the curriculum of the present-day universities of the West. The disciplines that were followed consisted of Asian languages such as Sinhala, Tamil, Siamese and Burmese, Buddhist Philosophy and Indian Philosophy, Logic, Poetics, Literature, Medicine, Legal Studies, and Surya Siddhantha consisting of Astronomy, Astrology and Mathematics. A student was expected to pursue a number of diverse disciplines without confining himself to one.

Even the vedamahattaya of today is not only a doctor but a scholar and an intellectual who guides the thinking of the villagers. I believe he is a product of a lost tradition.

It is this knowledge that was imparted by these Pirivenas that enabled our engineers to achieve those engineering marvels as the Bisokotuwa of the great reservoirs, the Yoda Ela with a gradient that has baffled modern day engineers and those great dagobas-examples of unique architecture. The builders of those dagobas surely would have been aware of the gravitational forces long before Newton discovered them.

One may well ask ‘what happened to that knowledge? Why did that knowledge fail to achieve the level of scientific knowledge achieved by the West?’

This question has been asked and answered by Joseph Needham in dealing with science in China, on which he has produced ten volumes. He believes that it was capitalism in the Western world that caused the expansion of scientific knowledge which was not relevant to the Chinese who had opted out of capitalism. This is probably the answer we too can offer. Professor Needham’s observation that Capitalism is unavoidable for the progress of science has been proven wrong by the China of today. It has shown how a feudal state can skip the capitalist phase in its march towards great scientific achievements. It is no secret that the Chinese civilisation based on Confucius and Taoist Buddhism and our own civilisation based on Theravada Buddhism abhor capitalism as kamasukallikhanuyoga,

inimical to human happiness.

I feel, that this attempt to restructure the university curriculum is not an innovative move as such but an attempt to go back to our own tradition as pointed out by me.

At the present moment I feel that in addition to the restructuring of our university curriculum, there is a need to restructure our training programmes in the fields of Medicine, Dentistry and even Engineering. I will confine myself to my own field of Dentistry.

At the moment there is a great demand for Medicine and Dentistry. Over thousands seek admission to the Dental Faculty. Most of them have the required qualifications, but only about 10% of them are able to gain admission. This is by no means a healthy situation; it creates frustration and envy in those who fail to get in. This could be avoided by restructuring the system.

We take five years to produce a Dental Surgeon, we see to it that he/she is not second to a Dental Surgeon in a highly developed Western country. After that long and arduous training he/she is sent out to perform a function which could be done without that exhaustive training. Isn’t that underutilisation of manpower as well as a sheer waste of the tax payer’s money? Consequently, the Dental surgeon himself is unhappy, and seeks to come to the urban centre where he could use his knowledge and skills to make more money or to migrate to a foreign country where he can make dollars instead of rupees.

The result of this procedure can be seen by looking at those rural peasants on the television screen. Most of them are toothless by the age of fifty, their oral hygiene is putrid, some of them harbour precancerous lesions in their mouths. I think oral cancer still occupies the first place in the list of our cancers. This is in spite of the fact that we have a first-class Dental Faculty here in Peradeniya and the best Dental hospital in South Asia in Colombo. Isn’t there something wrong in the whole process? Only callous disregard for humanity prevents us from seeking a remedy for this sorry state of affairs.

I have over the years thought of a scheme to remedy this situation. I will present an idea of the scheme I envisage.

There will be three stages. In stage 1 we take in almost all the students who have fulfilled the qualifications and are eligible.

All of them should be sent to the periphery after two years’ training; they will provide the necessary treatment required by the rural masses. In addition to being clinicians they will perform the duties of dental health workers as well. In Stage 11 out of that thousand or so, 25% will be selected for further training. They will be given three years’ training, the kind of training that is given today at the Dental Faculty. In Stage 111 out of that 25%, 10% will be recruited for Specialist training as required by the country. What I have presented is the bare outline of the restructuring process I envisage. What is important is that all these should enjoy the same social status irrespective of the position they occupy. Such a scheme would be absolutely necessary if we are to overcome the present state of affairs for the proper utilisation of man power and finances. It will also fulfill the ambitions of those thousands who seek admission to the Dental Profession.

Of course, this kind of thinking is radical. It calls for systems that have been taken for granted to be turned around.

This restructuring scheme I have presented has an ideological basis; it is village-based, with the village occupying centre stage.

The present scheme we have is urban-based with the city occupying centre stage. That is what the colonial masters wanted it to be. We have only been tinkering with it and not attempted to change it. It is time we realise this and reverse this order of things. This country is still a collection of villages, 70 % of our population still live there. The village is still the pivot of our existence, which we will soon realize with the present fertiliser fiasco when we find there is no rice on our plate.

A holistic approach combined with such a restructuring process will not only produce an enlightened graduate and a humane professional but also an intelligentsia across the country who will lift us from the morass we are in and liberate us from the tyranny of the power- hungry self-seeking politician who has ruined this country.

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Midweek Review

Fonseka clears Rajapaksas of committing war crimes he himself once accused them of

Published

6 days ago

2026/02/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

With Sri Lanka’s 17th annual war victory over separatist Tamil terrorism just months away, warwinning Army Chief, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (Dec. 06, 2005, to July 15, 2009) has significantly changed his war narrative pertaining to the final phase of the offensive that was brought to an end on May 18, 2009.

The armed forces declared the conclusion of ground operations on that day after the entire northern region was brought back under their control. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, hiding within the secured area, was killed on the following day. His body was recovered from the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon.

With the war a foregone conclusion, with nothing to save the increasingly hedged in Tigers taking refuge among hapless Tamil civilians, Fonseka left for Beijing on May 11, and returned to Colombo, around midnight, on May 17, 2009. The LTTE, in its last desperate bid to facilitate Prabhakatan’s escape, breached one flank of the 53 Division, around 2.30 am, on May 18. But they failed to bring the assault to a successful conclusion and by noon the following day those fanatical followers of Tiger Supremo, who had been trapped within the territory, under military control, died in confrontations.

During Fonseka’s absence, the celebrated 58 Division (formerly Task Force 1), commanded by the then Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva, advanced 31/2 to 4 kms and was appropriately positioned with Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne’s 53 Division. The LTTE never had an opportunity to save its leader by breaching several lines held by frontline troops on the Vanni east front. There couldn’t have been any other option than surrendering to the Army.

The Sinha Regiment veteran, who had repeatedly accused the Rajapaksas of war crimes, and betraying the war effort by providing USD 2 mn, ahead of the 2005 presidential election, to the LTTE, in return for ordering the polls boycott that enabled Mahinda Rajapaksa’s victory, last week made noteworthy changes to his much disputed narrative.

GR’s call to Shavendra What did the former Army Commander say?

* The Rajapaksas wanted to sabotage the war effort, beginning January 2008.

* In January 2008, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Navy Commander VA Wasantha Karannagoda, proposed to the National Security Council that the Army should advance from Vavuniya to Mullithivu, on a straight line, to rapidly bring the war to a successful conclusion. They asserted that Fonseka’s strategy (fighting the enemy on multiple fronts) caused a lot of casualties.

* They tried to discourage the then Lt. Gen. Fonseka

* Fonseka produced purported video evidence to prove decisive intervention made by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the afternoon of May 17. The ex-Army Chief’s assertion was based on a telephone call received by Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva from Gotabaya Rajapaksa. That conversation had been captured on video by Swarnavahini’s Shanaka de Silva who now resides in the US. He had been one of the few persons, from the media, authorised by the Army Headquarters and the Defence Ministry to be with the Army leadership on the battlefield. Fonseka claimed that the videographer fled the country to escape death in the hands of the Rajapaksas. It was somewhat reminiscent of Maithripala Sirisena’s claim that if Rajapaksas win the 2015 Presidential election against him he would be killed by them.

* Shanaka captured Shavendra Silva disclosing three conditions laid down by the LTTE to surrender namely (a) Their casualties should be evacuated to Colombo by road (b) They were ready to exchange six captured Army personnel with those in military custody and (c) and the rest were ready to surrender.

* Then Fonseka received a call from Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on a CDMA phone. The Defence Secretary issued specific instructions to the effect that if the LTTE was to surrender that should be to the military and definitely not to the ICRC or any other third party. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, one-time Commanding Officer of the 1st battalion of the Gajaba Regiment, ordered that irrespective of any new developments and talks with the international community, offensive action shouldn’t be halted. That declaration directly contradicted Fonseka’s claim that the Rajapaksas conspired to throw a lifeline to the LTTE.

Fonseka declared that the Rajapaksa brothers, in consultation with the ICRC, and Amnesty International, offered an opportunity for the LTTE leadership to surrender, whereas his order was to annihilate the LTTE. The overall plan was to eliminate all, Fonseka declared, alleging that the Rajapaksa initiated talks with the LTTE and other parties to save those who had been trapped by ground forces in a 400 m x 400 m area by the night of May 16, among a Tamil civilian human shield held by force.

If the LTTE had agreed to surrender to the Army, Mahinda Rajapaksa would have saved their lives. If that happened Velupillai Prabhakaran would have ended up as the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, he said. Fonseka shocked everyone when he declared that he never accused the 58 Division of executing prisoners of war (white flag killings) but the issue was created by those media people embedded with the military leadership. Fonseka declared that accusations regarding white flag killings never happened. That story, according to Fonseka, had been developed on the basis of the Rajapaksas’ failed bid to save the lives of the LTTE leaders.

Before we discuss the issues at hand, and various assertions, claims and allegations made by Fonseka, it would be pertinent to remind readers of wartime US Defence Advisor in Colombo Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith’s June 2011 denial of white flag killings. The US State Department promptly declared that the officer hadn’t spoken at the inaugural Colombo seminar on behalf of the US. Smith’s declaration, made two years after the end of the war, and within months after the release of the Darusman report, dealt a massive blow to false war crimes allegations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in 2010, appointed a three-member Panel of Experts, more like a kangaroo court, consisting of Marzuki Darusman, Yasmin Sooka, and Steven Ratner, to investigate war crimes accusations.

Now Fonseka has confirmed what Smith revealed at the defence seminar in response to a query posed by Maj. General (retd.) Ashok Metha of the IPKF to Shavendra Silva, who had been No 02 in our UN mission, in New York, at that time.

White flag allegations

‘White flag’ allegations cannot be discussed in isolation. Fonseka made that claim as the common presidential candidate backed by the UNP-JVP-TNA combine. The shocking declaration was made in an interview with The Sunday Leader Editor Frederica Jansz published on Dec. 13, 2009 under ‘Gota ordered them to be shot – General Sarath Fonseka.’

The ‘white flag’ story had been sensationally figured in a leaked confidential US Embassy cable, during Patricia Butenis tenure as the US Ambassador here. Butenis had authored that cable at 1.50 pm on Dec. 13, 2009, the day after the now defunct The Sunday Leader exclusive. Butenis had lunch with Fonseka in the company of the then UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, according to the cable. But for the writer the most interesting part had been Butenis declaration that Fonseka’s advisors, namely the late Mangala Samaraweera, Anura Kumara Dissanayake (incumbent President) and Vijitha Herath (current Foreign Minister) wanted him to retract part of the story attributed to him.

Frederica Jansz fiercely stood by her explosive story. She reiterated the accuracy of the story, published on Dec. 13, 2009, during the ‘white flag’ hearing when the writer spoke to her. There is absolutely no reason to suspect Frederica Jansz misinterpreted Fonseka’s response to her queries.

Subsequently, Fonseka repeated the ‘white flag’ allegation at a public rally held in support of his candidature. Many an eyebrow was raised at The Sunday Leader’s almost blind support for Fonseka, against the backdrop of persistent allegations directed at the Army over Lasantha Wickrematunga’s killing. Wickrematunga, an Attorney-at-Law by profession and one-time Private Secretary to Opposition Leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was killed on the Attidiya Road, Ratmalana in early January 2009.

The Darusman report, too, dealt withthe ‘white flag’ killings and were central to unsubstantiated Western accusations directed at the Sri Lankan military. Regardless of the political environment in which the ‘white flag’ accusations were made, the issue received global attention for obvious reasons. The accuser had been the war-winning Army Commander who defeated the LTTE at its own game. But, Fonseka insisted, during his meeting with Butenis, as well as the recent public statement that the Rajapaksas had worked behind his back with some members of the international community.

Fresh inquiry needed

Fonseka’s latest declaration that the Rajapaksas wanted to save the LTTE leadership came close on the heels of Deputy British Prime Minister David Lammy’s whistle-stop visit here. The UK, as the leader of the Core Group on Sri Lanka at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, spearheads the campaign targeting Sri Lanka.

Lammy was on his way to New Delhi for the AI Impact Summit. The Labour campaigner pushed for action against Sri Lanka during the last UK general election. In fact, taking punitive action against the Sri Lankan military had been a key campaign slogan meant to attract Tamil voters of Sri Lankan origin. His campaign contributed to the declaration of sanctions in March 2025 against Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, General (retd) Shavendra Silva, General (retd) Jagath Jayasuriya and ex-LTTE commander Karuna, who rebelled against Prabhakaran. Defending Shavendra Silva, Fonseka, about a week after the imposition of the UK sanctions, declared that the British action was unfair.

But Fonseka’s declaration last week had cleared the Rajapaksas of war crimes. Instead, they had been portrayed as traitors. That declaration may undermine the continuous post-war propaganda campaign meant to demonise the Rajapaksas and top ground commanders.

Canada, then a part of the Western clique that blindly towed the US line, declared Sri Lanka perpetrated genocide and also sanctioned ex-Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Other countries resorted to action, though such measures weren’t formally announced. General (retd) Jagath Dias and Maj. Gen (retd) Chagie Gallage were two of those targeted.

Against the backdrop of Fonseka’s latest claims, in respect of accountability issues, the urgent need to review action taken against Sri Lanka cannot be delayed. Although the US denied visa when Fonseka was to accompany President Maithripala Sirisena to the UN, in Sept. 2016, he hadn’t been formally accused of war crimes by the western powers, obviously because he served their interests.

On the basis of unsubstantiated allegations that hadn’t been subjected to judicial proceedings, Geneva initiated actions. The US, Canada and UK acted on those accusations. The US sanctioned General Shavendra Silva in Feb. 2020 and Admiral Karannagoda in April 2023.

What compelled Fonseka to change his narrative, 18 years after his Army ended the war? Did Fonseka base his latest version solely on Shanaka de Silva video? Fonseka is on record as claiming that he got that video, via a third party, thereby Shanaka de Silva had nothing to do with his actions.

DNA and formation of DP

Having realised that he couldn’t, under any circumstances, reach a consensus with the UNP to pursue a political career with that party, Fonseka teamed up with the JVP, one of the parties in the coalition that backed his presidential bid in 2010. Fonseka’s current efforts to reach an understanding with the JVP/NPP (President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the leader of both registered political parties) should be examined against the backdrop of their 2010 alliance.

Under Fonseka’s leadership, the JVP, and a couple of other parties/groups, contested, under the symbol of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) that had been formed on 22 Nov. 2009. but the grouping pathetically failed to live up to their own expectations. The results of the parliamentary polls, conducted in April 2010, had been devastating and utterly demoralising. Fonseka, who polled about 40% of the national vote at the January 2010 presidential election, ended up with just over 5% of the vote, and the DNA only managed to secure seven seats, including two on the National List. The DNA group consisted of Fonseka, ex-national cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga, businessman Tiran Alles and four JVPers. Anura Kumara Dissanayake was among the four.

Having been arrested on February 8, 2010, soon after the presidential election, Fonseka was in prison. He was court-martialed for committing “military offences”. He was convicted of corrupt military supply deals and sentenced to three years in prison. Fonseka vacated his seat on 7 Oct .2010. Following a failed legal battle to protect his MP status, Fonseka was replaced by DNA member Jayantha Ketagoda on 8 March 2011. But President Mahinda Rajapaksa released Fonseka in May 2012 following heavy US pressure. The US went to the extent of issuing a warning to the then SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena that unless President Rajapaksa freed Fonseka he would have to face the consequences (The then Health Minister Sirisena disclosed the US intervention when the writer met him at the Jealth Ministry, as advised by President Rajapaksa)

By then, Fonseka and the JVP had drifted apart and both parties were irrelevant. Somawansa Amarasinghe had been the leader at the time the party decided to join the UNP-led alliance that included the TNA, and the SLMC. The controversial 2010 project had the backing of the US as disclosed by leaked secret diplomatic cables during Patricia Butenis tenure as the US Ambassador here.

In spite of arranging the JVP-led coalition to bring an end to the Rajapaksa rule, Butenis, in a cable dated 15 January 2010, explained the crisis situation here. Butenis said: “There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.”

Then Fonseka scored a major victory when Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya on 1 April, 2013, recognised his Democratic Party (DNA was registered as DP) with ‘burning flame’ as its symbol. There hadn’t been a previous instance of any service commander registering a political party. While Fonseka received the leadership, ex-Army officer Senaka de Silva, husband of Diana Gamage ((later SJB MP who lost her National List seat over citizenship issue) functioned as the Deputy Leader.

Having covered Fonseka’s political journey, beginning with the day he handed over command to Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, in July, 2009, at the old Army Headquarters that was later demolished to pave the way for the Shangri-La hotel complex, the writer covered the hastily arranged media briefing at the Solis reception hall, Pitakotte, on 2 April, 2023. Claiming that his DP was the only alternative to what he called corrupt Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government and bankrupt Ranil Wickremesinghe-led Opposition, a jubilant Fonseka declared himself as the only alternative (‘I am the only alternative,’ with strapline ‘SF alleges Opposition is as bad as govt’. The Island, April 3, 2013).

Fonseka had been overconfident to such an extent, he appealed to members of the government parliamentary group, as well as the Opposition (UNP), to switch allegiance to him. As usual Fonseka was cocky and never realised that 40% of the national vote he received, at the presidential election, belonged to the UNP, TNA and the JVP. Fonseka also disregarded the fact that he no longer had the JVP’s support. He was on his own. The DP never bothered to examine the devastating impact his 2010 relationship with the TNA had on the party. The 2015 general election results devastated Fonseka and underscored that there was absolutely no opportunity for a new party. The result also proved that his role in Sri Lanka’s triumph over the LTTE hadn’t been a decisive factor.

RW comes to SF’s rescue

Fonseka’s DP suffered a humiliating defeat at the August 2015 parliamentary polls. The outcome had been so bad that the DP was left without at least a National List slot. Fonseka was back to square one. If not for UNP leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Fonseka could have been left in the cold. Wickremesinghe accommodated Fonseka on their National List, in place of SLFPer M.K.D.S. Gunawardene, who played a critical role in an influential section of the party and the electorate shifting support to Maithripala Sirisena. Gunawardena passed away on 19 January, 2016. Wickremesinghe and Fonseka signed an agreement at Temple Trees on 3 February, 2016. Fonseka received appointment as National List MP on 9 February, 2016, and served as Minister of Regional Development and, thereafter, as Minister of Wildlife and Sustainable Development, till Oct. 2018. Fonseka lost his Ministry when President Sirisena treacherously sacked Wickremesinghe’s government to pave the way for a new partnership with the Rajapaksas. The Supreme Court discarded that arrangement and brought back the Yahapalana administration but Sirisena, who appointed Fonseka to the lifetime rank of Field Marshal, in recognition of his contribution to the defeat of terrorism, refused to accommodate him in Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet. The President also left out Wasantha Karannagoda and Roshan Goonetilleke. Sirisena appointed them Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of Air Force, respectively, on 19, Sept. 2019, in the wake of him failing to secure the required backing to contest the Nov. 2019 presidential election.

Wickremesinghe’s UNP repeatedly appealed on behalf of Fonseka in vain to Sirisena. At the 2020 general election, Fonseka switched his allegiance to Sajith Premadasa and contested under the SJB’s ‘telephone’ symbol and was elected from the Gampaha district. Later, following a damaging row with Sajith Premadasa, he quit the SJB as its Chairman and, at the last presidential election, joined the fray as an independent candidate. Having secured just 22,407 votes, Fonseka was placed in distant 9th position. Obviously, Fonseka never received any benefits from support extended to the 2022 Aragalaya and his defeat at the last presidential election seems to have placed him in an extremely difficult position, politically.

Let’s end this piece by reminding that Fonseka gave up the party leadership in early 2024 ahead of the presidential election. Senaka de Silva succeeded Fonseka as DP leader, whereas Dr. Asosha Fernando received appointment as its Chairman. The DP has aligned itself with the NPP. The rest is history.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Midweek Review

Strengths and weaknesses of BRICS+: Implications for Global South

Published

6 days ago

2026/02/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

The 16th BRICS Summit, from 22 to 24 October 2024 in Kazan, was attended by 24 heads of state, including the five countries that officially became part of the group on 1 January: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia. Argentina finally withdrew from the forum after Javier Milei’s government took office in 2023.

In the end, it changed its strategy and instead of granting full membership made them associated countries adding a large group of 13 countries: two from Latin America (Bolivia and Cuba), three from Africa (Algeria, Nigeria, Uganda) and eight from Asia (Belarus, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam). This confirms the expansionary intent of the BRICS, initiated last year and driven above all by China, which seeks to turn the group into a relevant multilateral forum, with focus on political than economic interaction, designed to serve its interests in the geopolitical dispute with the United States. This dispute however is not the making of China but has arisen mainly due to the callous bungling of Donald Trump in his second term in office.

China has emerged as the power that could influence the membership within the larger group more than its rival in the region, India. Obviously, the latter is concerned about these developments but seems powerless to stop the trend as more countries realize the need for the development of capacity to resist Western dominance. India in this regard seems to be reluctant possibly due to its defence obligations to the US with Trump declaring war against countries that try to forge partnerships aiming to de-dollarize the global economic system.

The real weakness in BRICS therefore, is the seemingly intractable rivalry between China and India and the impact of this relationship on the other members who are keen to see the organisation grow its capacity to meet its stated goals. China is committed to developing an alternative to the Western dominated world order, particularly the weaponization of the dollar by the US. India does not want to be seen as anti-west and as a result India is often viewed as a reluctant or cautious member of BRICS. This problem seems to be perpetuated due to the ongoing border tensions with China. India therefore has a desire to maintain a level playing field within the group, rather than allowing it to be dominated by Beijing.

Though India seems to be committed to a multipolar world, it prefers focusing on economic cooperation over geopolitical alignment. India thinks the expansion of BRICS initiated by China may dilute its influence within the bloc to the advantage of China. India fears the bloc is shifting toward an anti-Western tilt driven by China and Russia, complicating its own strong ties with the West. India is wary of the new members who are also beneficiaries of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. While China aims to use BRICS for anti-Western geopolitical agendas, India favors focusing on South-South financial cooperation and reforming international institutions. Yet India seems to be not in favour of creating a new currency to replace the dollar which could obviously strengthen the South-South financial transactions bypassing the dollar.

Moreover, India has explicitly opposed the expansion of the bloc to include certain nations, such as Pakistan, indicating a desire to control the group’s agenda, especially during its presidency.

In this equation an important factor is the role that Russia could play. The opinion expressed by the Russian foreign minister in this regard may be significant. Referring to the new admissions the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said: “The weight, prominence and importance of the candidates and their international standing were the primary factors for us [BRICS members]. It is our shared view that we must recruit like-minded countries into our ranks that believe in a multipolar world order and the need for more democracy and justice in international relations. We need those who champion a bigger role for the Global South in global governance. The six countries whose accession was announced today fully meet these criteria.”

The admission of three major oil producing countries, Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE is bound to have a significant impact on the future global economic system and consequently may have positive implications for the Global South. These countries would have the ability to decisively help in creating a new international trading system to replace the 5 centuries old system that the West created to transfer wealth from the South to the North. This is so because the petro-dollar is the pillar of the western banking system and is at the very core of the de-dollarizing process that the BRICS is aiming at. This cannot be done without taking on board Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally of the west. BRICS’ expansion, therefore, is its transformation into the most representative community in the world, whose members interact with each other bypassing Western pressure. Saudi Arabia and Iran are actively mending fences, driven by a 2023 China-brokered deal to restore diplomatic ties, reopen embassies, and de-escalate regional tensions. While this detente has brought high-level meetings and a decrease in direct hostility rapprochement is not complete yet and there is hope which also has implications, positive for the South and may not be so for the North.

Though the US may not like what is going on, Europe, which may not endorse all that the former does if one is to go by the speech delivered by the Canadian PM in Brazil recently, may not be displeased about the rapid growth of BRICS. The Guardian UK highlighted expert opinion that BRICS expansion is rather “a symbol of broad support from the global South for the recalibration of the world order.” A top official at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Caroline Kanter has told the daily, “It is obvious that we [Western countries] are no longer able to set our own conditions and standards. Proposals will be expected from us so that in the future we will be perceived as an attractive partner.” At the same time, the bottom line is that BRICS expansion is perceived in the West as a political victory for Russia and China which augurs well for the future of BRICS and the Global South.

Poor countries, relentlessly battered by the neo-liberal global economy, will greatly benefit if BRICS succeeds in forging a new world order and usher in an era of self-sufficiency and economic independence. There is no hope for them in the present system designed to exploit their natural resources and keep them in a perpetual state of dependency and increasing poverty. BRICS is bound to be further strengthened if more countries from the South join it. Poor countries must come together and with the help of BRICS work towards this goal.

by N. A. de S. Amaratunga